Westonaria

Westonaria is a town in the west of Gauteng province of South Africa. It is situated in the Rand West City Local Municipality, part of the West Rand District Municipality. During the apartheid era, Africans lived outside town in Bekkersdal. The town is some 45 km west of Johannesburg and 18 km south of Randfontein.

Westonaria
Westonaria Westonaria
Coordinates: 26°19′4″S 27°39′2″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
District	West Rand
Municipality	Rand West City
Established	1948
Area [1]
• Total	12.65 km^2 (4.88 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	10,259
• Density	810/km^2 (2,100/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	65.5%
• Coloured	1.4%
• Indian/Asian	1.0%
• White	31.9%
• Other	0.2%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Afrikaans	28.8%
• Xhosa	16.6%
• Sotho	14.0%
• Tswana	13.4%
• Other	27.1%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	1779
PO box	1780
Area code	011

History

It was formed in 1948 by the amalgamation of the townships Venterspost, proclaimed in 1937, and Westonaria, proclaimed in 1938.[2] First called Venterspost, the name was changed to Westonaria when municipal status was attained in 1952.[2] The name is a homophone of ‘western area’, after the township developing company Western Areas Ltd.[3]

References

1. "Main Place Westonaria". Census 2011.
2. Raper, Peter E.; Moller, Lucie A.; du Plessis, Theodorus L. (2014). Dictionary of Southern African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers. p. 1412. ISBN 9781868425501.
3. "Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain)". Human Science Research Council. p. 473.